Incubators can be used to hold samples containing materials, including micro-objects and other components derived from biological cells, and provide conditions to maintain the viability of biologically related materials. For example, the interior environment of the incubator can have a certain temperature range, humidity, and carbon dioxide content selected to maintain the viability of the materials.
The materials maintained within the incubator can be accessed by opening the incubator. However, opening the incubator, such as by opening a lid of the incubator, can introduce contaminants and disrupt the interior environment of the incubator. Repeated opening can adversely affect the biological viability of the materials within the incubator.
Accessing the interior of the incubator with a robotic arm can also be difficult to automate because of the significant complexity of movement required by the robotic arm in order to open and access the interior of the incubator. Even if the robotic arm is configured to access the incubator after opening the lid, the extra steps can significantly decrease process throughput. Repeated opening of the lid in combination with the use of a robotic arm can adversely affect the materials. One solution that has been developed to address this problem is to locate the robotic arm and incubator within a larger incubator having an internal environment with conditions selected to maintain viability of the materials. However, this solution creates additional problems for the equipment operating within the incubator environment. For example, the tooling and equipment maintained in the environment is subject to additional condensation that can damage or inhibit the robotic arm. Enlarging the incubator environment also greatly increases the complexity and costs of the system.
A need therefore exists for an incubator that addresses many of these issues and that can be easily accessed by a robotic arm or other import/export tip while maintaining the internal incubator environment to support the viability of biological and other materials.